Sara was a remarkable woman who always held her head high and gave endlessly to those around her.Born in Rochdale, England on April 22, 1966, Sara’s father Jim was an entrepreneur who worked at a variety of jobs, from working as a courier to owning his own corner store. Grace, her Mum, was a devoted mother and lifelong confidante, who Sara remained very close with despite the geographical distance between them.Sara had an interesting upbringing – born into a family with some history of military service, and a deep-rooted legacy of Northern English hospitality and humour. Her great grandfather was lost in the WWI Battle of Loos, in France, in 1915. Sara's Great Uncle, Ronnie, fought during the Italian campaign in WWII. Her father Jim would later take part as a gunner of the 65th Heavy Antiaircraft Royal Artillery in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Sara's family loved to go camping quite often, across to France mostly, and sometime to Switzerland, and also around various places in Great Britain. Sara grew up with a large, close-knit extended family that included many aunts, uncles and cousins.Sara had always wanted to work with children, and it was her interest in working with children that first brought her to Canada, back in 1985. She came to work as a nanny for a family in Markham, Ontario.It was only by chance that I first met Sara, in 1987, while she was out at a night-club with a group of other nannies who were also from other countries, most of them also from Britain. She has kept in touch with a number of them, some of whom are here today. The moment I set eyes on her, I knew she was the one for me. She had big, beautiful eyes that projected a gentle warmth and a purity of spirit. I began chatting with her and we conversed so naturally that the night was over as fast as it seemed to begin. For whatever reason though, after getting her phone number from her, I didn't call her back. It wasn't until I saw her again a few weeks later that I realized I better not let her go a second time. This time, she seemed to be playing a little hard to get, probably as payback for not calling her back the first time around.Our courtship was typical, lots of time spent together with friends and beginning to think abut the future. Sara and I came from different backgrounds: I was brought up in a large city and had pretty much stayed where I was my entire life, while Sara had travelled to many places by the time she was 18, including emigrating to Canada. But that didn’t worry us – we complimented each other perfectly.After meeting her family for the first time in 1989 we began to think that perhaps it was time to take the next step. In early 1990 I proposed, and when she accepted, it made me the happiest man alive. I remember how beautiful she looked walking down the isle at the church. She actually told me that she was worried I wouldn't show up, because I was so nervous. I am so thankful and blessed to have shared 22 years of companionship and commitment with Sara. I'll cherish the special moments, the anniversaries, birthdays, holidays and romantic moments, but perhaps even more than that, I'll cherish all the ordinary moments that we may not recall easily, but that add up to a life spent together, the commitment to work through tough times, to stick together in sickness and in health. I will never again take for granted the ordinary things that are a part of people's every day lives, for the sum of all of those is what adds up to a life spent together.

Sara was foremost a caring mother. Michael and Madison were the most important people in her life, and even in her final weeks, she told me to make certain that Madison's 16th birthday plans didn't get spoiled because of the circumstances that she found herself in. I truly believe that when I lost my job last April, that it was to enable us to spend more quality time together and to enjoy a period of renewal in our relationship. It breaks my heart when I look at the poster that she had made, which is now hanging in our bedroom. It is a collage of all the things that we were planning to do when we were ready to start anew. The courage that Sara showed was awe-inspiring. I never heard her complain, I only saw in her a steadfast resolve to persevere and to never give in. She may have tired physically, but spiritually, she would not be broken.

I will carry her memory in my heart as long as I live. She gave me two wonderful children and 22 years of dedicated companionship and friendship and I will miss her terribly. May you be at peace Sara and God bless you.

Sara's friend Heather Qually sent me these words from the Midrash to contemplate. "I am standing on the seashore; a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until - at length - she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!" Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and is just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her; and just at the moment when someone at my side says "There! She's gone!", there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "There she comes!"

Norb, Your tribute to your wife is also a very moving and poignant tribute to You. The Love you have for one and other shows forth in beauty and truth and is a testimony to the blessing of what Marriage is meant to be. Thank You...Annie

Thank you for sharing your eulogy and portrait of Sara. She is one of many Warriors who fought a valiant battle. You and she are now a part of this wonderful sisterhood/brotherhood for the ongoing fight to conquer Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Again, THANK YOU for sharing here. Please post often. I am so sorry for your loss of Sara.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words and warm reception, I wish that I would've been able to contribute a wonderful story to this site such as 'Snickers' NED thread, but I'll perhaps chime in from time-to-time with updates from my volunteering with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and things like that. Perhaps I could even give updates about Sara's friend, Heather Qually's, own battle with cancer, I'll have to check with her first. I'm not even sure if Heather also has tnbc or another form of breast cancer, but I'll find out.

Yes, Sara was a wonderful, beautiful woman and I miss her terribly. I can't seem to pay her enough tributes, lol, she's constantly on my mind.

Sara's birthday is on Monday, so I posted and ad in the local
paper yesterday and all her co-workers from where she worked are talking
about the ad on Facebook, I'm so glad of that, they can't say enough
kind things about Sara, they really loved her as well. I'm so stoked about that.

A beautiful tribute for Sara. I've found that Facebook is a great way for all of us to remember those that have passed. I have several friends that are gone but we can still post on their FB page. It's nice to see they are not forgotten and gives the family comfort in knowing others loved them too.

I talked to Sara's parents today on the phone and Jim, her father, recalled how 47 years ago they proudly brought her home from the hospital. It must be difficult for parents, perhaps even more so, to lose a child. The cemetery also had the inscription on the niche completed on time for her birthday which was nice as well. I will post a pic of that when I have them available.

A picture of the niche and in the other picture, my two kids, Maddy and Michael, on the left, and my bro Ed, and my sister-in-law, Elonda, and my niece, Brianne. Elonda was Sara's closest friend, and has given me a lot of help with all the paper work that needed doing, in addition to having helped to take Sara to treatments and with bathing her, washing her hair and things like that in Sara's last weeks.

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